Zombie Cliche Lookout: Off-Screen Assistance
If you want to survive the zombie apocalypse, one of the first things you’re going to want to do is find a few people to partner up with. Now, obviously you’ll want to take care of any immediate needs first (e.g. getting away from a huge horde of zombies, bandaging up a wound), but once you’ve got a reasonable handle on things, you need to find some other people. As I’ve said before, you’ve got to sleep sometime, and having someone there to watch your back means you’ll probably sleep a lot more soundly.
Of course, having allies is useful beyond just survival. At some point, handling zombies gets to be a dangerous but fairly normal task. But other people? They’re a lot more clever. Having a few more people around can really help turn the tables. And, if you’re on the other side of things, having more guys there to put the squeeze on your victims is going to help you become a wasteland warlord much faster than attempting to go it alone.
About this Episode:
I have to admit, with this one, I stole the idea from Breaking Bad. I won’t get into too many spoilers just in case you haven’t seen the show yet (you really should, it’s absolutely fantastic). Regardless, I loved the visual in the show. I hope it comes across well here; not seeing the lasers moving around might spoil the effect a bit, but I hope not.
Discussion Question: Show Without Showing
For this episode, I wanted to get across that Henry did indeed have other people in his group, but I didn’t want to introduce any other characters. My solution is right up on the screen, and, as I mentioned above, I shamelessly stole it from an award winning drama series. How else might I have accomplished the same thing? How could I prove Henry had allies without them actually making an appearance? Could your alternative have worked better and made a bigger impact compared to how I handled it?
Typo alerts:
About this Episode: “have to admin” admin–>admit 😀
Discussion Question: “get across the Henry did indeed have other people” the–>that 😉
Dave’s typos are beginning to get stranger, usually it’s a wrong word somewhere, but lately it seems to be hitting commonly used words, like Dave is dictating this to some zombie secretary! 😀
Fixed both. The only excuse I can make is that “admin” is a word I type very frequently, so I’m going to blame it on muscle memory.
For all we know, a small group of zombies have evolved the ability to pick up and use dangerous weapons, and additionally, the ability to find or manufacture them! 😀 Or maybe it’s some kids with pencil flashlights! 😀 Hopefully, though, it’s as serious as Dave makes it out to be! 😀
“maybe it’s some kids with pencil flashlights!”
SPOILERSSPOILERS
So did you watch Breaking Bad?
I don’t recall having watched it, but depending on how old it is, maybe! 😀 I just figured the idea of kids with pencil flashlights would be a thing in that TV series. I had to Google it, so It’s likely I haven’t seen it! 😀
It just wrapped up a couple of years ago. Really great show.
Also, with the recently revealed fact that there’s laser-targeted weapons trained on Henry, these same weapons could easily target this group, too! What’s to stop them from just shooting anyone that disagrees with them and pillaging their supplies posthumously? 😀
What indeed? Yep, this seems like a pretty pointed tactic to both reveal that they have more people without actually showing them, and make a pretty powerful show of force.
Lastly, put your hand up if you believe this group of people are not really being offered a choice! I thought Henry was the bad guy here, looks like he’s their pawn instead! 😀 Didn’t see that coming! 😉
Oh, that’s a really cool read on things.
Simply making noise from a lot of different directions can show that there are other people about, but that’d attract zombies which is what all parties want to avoid. The laser lights were probably the best choice for the comic…
…that said, it’d immediate loose the trust of the group. Laser points typically mean weapons in a scenario like this (yes they could just be laser pointers), and the group would feel like theyr’e being forced into something. Which is always a bad idea.
When you force someone into your service, unless their will has been broken, they’re going to look for an out even if its through you. Even if their will HAS been broken, they might just snap and retaliate when someone else they care about is in trouble.
There’ve been plenty of cases of slaves killing their masters in American history, and masters being paranoid that they could be attacked at any moment. To quote an old saying, “Slavers are also slaves…”
Guess the moral of my tangent is: Slavery’s wrong; mankind should never do it!
“There’ve been plenty of cases of slaves killing their masters in American history, and masters being paranoid that they could be attacked at any moment. ”
Right you are! Look no further than the history of Haiti on that account.
Interesting twist Dave! I haven’t seen BB.. maybe a few episodes but I don’t recall a laser pointer showdown!
If these guys really have some weapons with that sort of tech… What could they possibly want from “our” little band of survivors? I get the “strength in numbers” but still.. the group does not really come across as formidable.
The laser pointer was in one of the last episodes, possible the last one itself.
Excellent point. They’re definitely making a statement, but it’s too soon to tell what statement exactly they’re making.
When are you going to do one of those review or lego zombie scene winners?
I’ll actually have a book review coming up here within the next few weeks.
Do Henry’s group want to shoot him as much as the rest of us? 😉
Too soon to tell, but based on the fact that they’re still working with him, I’m going to say no.
Dave I love ya but 1) I will not watch BB and 2) What have you not been watching? The laser dot thing has been around for about 20 years. It’s not like this is a new technology. 3) If you’ve already told the group you need there numbers to fight another group then threatening to reduce those numbers is a counterproductive threat.
Oh and a single dot means there is one person out there. A sniper with a rifle yes but still not an idea of a group.
Oh yeah, the laser dot thing has definitely been around for ages, I’m specifically copying how it was used on BB.